Cover crops like red clover play an important role in many farmers’ rotation plans.
What, though, would you say to someone who plants 18 different cover crops, simultaneously, every single year? What’s the cost, return, and motivation behind such a practice?
For Blake Vince, a Merlin-area farmer who uses the aforementioned technique, the motivation behind such a cosmopolitan cover crop system is rooted in environmental stewardship.
It’s an innovation that has served his farm well since he started incorporating it in 2010, and has also brought him some social recognition.
Vince was a recipient of a Premier’s Agri-Food Innovation Excellence Award in 2015 and was selected as one of three Canadian winners of the Nuffield Farming Scholarship, a Commonwealth agricultural leadership program, in 2013.
“One of the things that spurred me to do this is the ongoing issue with Lake Erie and the algae bloom,” he says. “I think there’s a way to improve the environment and yields without having to till.”
According both Vince and the Government of Ontario’s website, a “polyculture” cover crop system – one that includes many different plant species – has many environmental benefits, such as a less reliance on fertilizers and herbicides, decreased soil erosion, and a greater level of biodiversity and microbial activity in the field.
Vince says the decomposition rate in his fields has skyrocketed, meaning a much higher level of microbial activity. He also says he’s seen noticeable improvements in water and nutrient uptake, carbon sequestering, and significantly more consistent crop growth.
Of course, he’s saving on fertilizer too since his system helps put a greater amount of nitrogen into the soil.
Vince started using his polyculture system after a conversation with his friend and mentor, David Brandt. Brandt, a farmer from Ohio, challenged Vince to improve his soil with roots rather than machinery.
Vince planted a mixture of five different cover crops that season, but quickly began expanded the diversity of his mixture.
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